Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Shape Memory Alloys (SMA's) have been widely adopted in the biomedical fields. They are particularly relevant to cardiovascular, orthopaedic, general surgery, and other interventional approaches: prosthetic devices that exploit SMA properties are routinely used in clinical practice. However, many issues still exist; these concern the optimization of functional performance, manufacturing processes, mechanical behavior, biomaterial properties, and the development of relevant computational methods that are able to define behavior.

Of particular interest is the study of fatigue behavior and the potential risk of fracture: equally, the analysis and correlation between manufacturing processes and micro-structural properties with the development of numerical models that are able to define device life-cycles from raw material to final product design are also important.

The development of innovative devices at different scales is an example of one of the most debated arguments relating to the biomedical applications of SMA. This Special Issue aims to give a perspective of the most recent research in the field and welcomes both academic and industrial points of view. Experimental and numerical studies relating to shape memory materials and devices are particularly welcome.

Lorenza PetriniTony AnsonGuest Editors

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Functional Biomaterials is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 300 CHF (Swiss Francs).
English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

Abstract: Nickel-titanium (NiTi) instruments are commonly used for shaping the root canal system in endodontic practice.They are more flexible and have better cutting efficiency than conventional stainless steel files. The superelasticity of NiTi rotary files allows the clinicians to produce the desirable tapered root canal form with a reduced tendency to canal transportation and instrument fracture. HyFlex CM instruments are new NiTi rotary instruments with shape memory produced by an innovative methodology (patent pending) that uses a complex heating and cooling treatment that controls the material’s memory. The aim of the present study was to compare the cleaning efficacy of two conventional (Mtwo, Revo-S) Ni-Ti rotary instruments with HyFlex CM. 30 single-rooted freshly extracted teeth were divided into three groups. Root canals were shaped with three NiTi instruments (Mtwo, Revo-S and HyFlex CM) using 5.25% NaOCl and 17% EDTA solutions. Specimens were fractured longitudinally and prepared for SEM analysis at standard magnification of 1000×. The presence/absence of debris smear layer and the presence/absence of smear layer at coronal, middle, and apical third of each canal were evaluated using a 5-step scale for scores. Numeric data were analyzed using Kruskall-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U statistical tests and significance was predetermined at P < 0.05. This study revealed significant differences among the various groups. Despite some minor differences, all instruments removed smear layer and debris produced during instrumentation. HyFlex CM seem to be not so effective in promoting cleanliness of root canal walls and in removing smear layer from dentine if compared to Mtwo and Revo-S.